GILBERTO di SEMPRINGHAM, saint. — Ascetic and founder of the Order of the Gilbertines, he occupies an important place in the revival of the religious Orders in the twelfth century. Born at Sempringham in Lincolnshire, ca. 1083–85, to the English knight Jocelin and a Norman mother, he studied in France and, on returning to his homeland, devoted himself to educating abandoned youth. He received two benefices from his father, but distributed their revenues to the poor, while himself living with the bishop of Lincoln, Roberto Bloet, and his successor Alessandro, by whom, ca. 1123, he was ordained a priest and, shortly thereafter, appointed parish priest at Sempringham.
He founded his Order between 1131 and 1135, gathering in his father’s house seven poor girls, whom he had take religious vows and dedicate themselves exclusively to the contemplative life. Later he added lay sisters for domestic duties and lay brothers for work in the fields. At the general chapter of Cîteaux (1145–46), he met St. Bernardo and Eugenio III and offered the Cistercians spiritual direction of the new Order. When they declined, he added a new branch to his institution, the Regular Canons, for the spiritual care of the monasteries. Later he himself entered the Order, promising obedience to Ruggero di Sempringham, its first superior general. He supported Tommaso Becket against Enrico II, and consequently suffered persecution, escaping only because of the personal esteem in which he was held by the King. He also endured the calumnies of some of his religious, but was defended before Pope Alessandro III by all the bishops. He founded 13 monasteries, 9 of them double and 4 for men only. He died at the age of one hundred at Sempringham on 4 February 1189 and was canonized by Innocenzo III on 11 January 1202.
His writings include the statutes of the Order, a letter to his religious, and several addresses.